Proportionality, step by step
The four stages.
- Legitimate aimIs the objective sufficiently important to limit a right?
- Rational connectionIs the measure rationally connected to that aim?
- NecessityCould a less intrusive measure achieve it?
- Fair balanceDoes the benefit outweigh the cost to the individual?
Educational reference. The necessity stage does most of the work: a good aim does not justify a heavier measure than needed.
Questions about the Proportionality poster
- What’s on the Proportionality poster?
- 4 numbered steps. The four stages. Legitimate aim — Is the objective sufficiently important to limit a right?; Rational connection — Is the measure rationally connected to that aim?; Necessity — Could a less intrusive measure achieve it?; Fair balance — Does the benefit outweigh the cost to the individual?. Educational reference. The necessity stage does most of the work: a good aim does not justify a heavier measure than needed.
- Who is the Proportionality poster for?
- Proportionality belongs to the Law section rather than to a school year, because law & society is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning public & constitutional can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Proportionality poster?
- Four questions, applied in order. Failing any one defeats the justification. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Proportionality belongs on the wall where that law & society work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Proportionality?
- Rights Frameworks, Administrative Justice and Constitutions sit alongside Proportionality in the Law section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Rights FrameworksAdministrative JusticeConstitutions
- Is the Proportionality poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Proportionality downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Law section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Proportionality poster print at?
- Proportionality is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Proportionality loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Proportionality on the same wall.
Browse every Law poster, or start from the full catalogue.